The French president called for the government to open up to “all components of civil society” and for security guarantees for the return of refugees.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to receive Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Al-Charaa, if the Syrian government opened up to all sections of civil society and undertook to provide security for the return of Syrian refugees.

“A government that takes into account all the components of Syrian civil society, the very clear and firm fight against terrorism and the return of refugees are three elements on which the transition will be judged,” Macron said last Friday at a joint press conference in Paris with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

“Depending on developments over the coming weeks, we are fully prepared to continue this dialogue and to receive the president of the transition. The next few weeks will be decisive in verifying this. But the discussions we’ve had so far have been positive,” the French president said.